I’ve been looking for a solution for while, as a way to help me make better videos from my phone.

Regular consumer mics won’t work

The reason why it’s been tough to find a mic that does a good job is because regular microphones won’t work in the input without some help. I didn’t realize that at first, and ended up spending time changing batteries in existing mics I own, trying to figure out what was wrong.

I won’t go into the painful detail (which I probably don’t know all of), but suffice it to say that what most modern smartphones need is a 3.5″ TRRS input jack.

What about an adapter?

You can go ahead and buy an adapter, but they usually cost about $25. You may also need a slightly different adapter if the “regular” microphone you’re using has a battery on it.

This may not be a huge deal, but if you’re just looking for something simple that works, it starts making things complicated.

Is this new mic any good?

The day I got the Edutige, I went out and I shot 11 of the remaining scenes for the Siri Top 40 countdown. I was trying to change up the videos a bit, and having a good mic that travels well, helped me take some great video. In case you’re wondering, that means I’m now over 1/2 way done with shooting the Top 30. You can start looking for that really soon.

This post’s video shows me using the Edutige, and lets you hear he raw audio. I haven’t made any changes to the audio.

I’ve tried a lot of Lavalier mics in the past, and I think this one ranks up there with the better ones.

Here’s what I liked:

Durable cable is thicker than most low to mid range lavalier mics

Works with most Smartphones

You can just use the stubby mic to record lectures

It comes with a nice pouch. It’s perfect for quickly stuffing the cable into and keeping it protected

Price was OK. A little high for EVERYONE, but good for someone looking to invest a little in better recordings.

No battery needed. That saves $$$ and the hassle of changing them.

Two-part microphone

This microphone is broken down into two parts.

The Edutige EIS-003 is only a small little knob. That’s what you plug into your phone if all you want is to record a lecture or interview.

The Smartline ESL-001 is what makes everything cool for me. It’s a 4′ extension that also has a clip (thus creating a lavalier mic), and a volume input for the mic.

How much does it cost?

I paid $36 for the Edutige EIS-003 and $25 for the Smartline ESL-001 on Amazon for a total cost of $61.

When I checked the Canadian prices ($70 just for EIS-003), they ended up being a little high, so I had it shipped in from the States. That cost me an extra $11 in shipping and $5 in import duties for a total cost of just over $77.

Yes, the combo works well. I’m still using it for my videos. I even added another 6 foot or so extension, so I could stand farther away from the camera and still have good audio.

This setup isn’t powered which is good and bad. I’ve had other microphones that needed little watch batteries to run, and you never knew when it was going to run out.

The downside to the Edutidge setup is that the audio won’t be as loud as if you had a powered (battery amplified) microphone. My solution is to run every video through Auphonic.com so it brings up the audio levels. It’s free and works like a charm.